Re-root: Corey

Dolly friends, I'm excited to share another re-root with you.

I bought Corey on eBay a few years ago. She was the blonde Barbie Basics with the very curly hair.

As a curly girl myself, I loved her hair... but I had plans for her. I'd wanted my very own Tokidoki Barbie for awhile, and unfortunately, she was ridiculously expensive on the secondary market. So I got the idea, like many doll customizers before me, to make my own.

(I believe it's called Faux-kidoki? Love. That. Name.)

At first I dyed her hair pink with watered-down acrylic paint. And... it wasn't bad. But it wasn't the shade I was looking for. So after making sure I absolutely knew how to thatch a part the right way, I gave her a nice re-root in this color of saran.

Here's how she turned out:

As you can see, I didn't get around to cutting and styling her hair in Tokidoki fashion -- she's been like this for over a year now. The truth is? I didn't have the heart to! She looks so cute, especially with the clip in her hair...

and wearing one of my favorite dresses ever, the umbrella dress.

Of course, she doesn't like me saying things like that. She's not a fan of words like cute. She's also not a fan of the umbrella dress. Corey has... how to put it? The strongest personality and language of any of my dolls.

"You can keep my hair long," she says. "I don't care. But what's with this frilly f---ng dress?"
 

"No, seriously. This is the frilliest f---ing dress you've made. And that's saying a lot, because holy sh--, you've made some frilly f---ing dresses." 

Thanks, Corey. You're a real charmer.

But at least I got her to sit still for a photo shoot. There was just one condition -- that I let her wear her favorite combat boots... and that I post the photo here. That way, everyone will know that she's still... how did she phrase it? Oh, that's right. A badass motherf---ing b-tch.

Oh, Corey. 

But even though she's strong-willed and has the kind of vocabulary that would send sailors running for the hills, she's still my girl, and I love her. So do the other dolls. She has a tightly-knit group of friends, including mild-mannered Mindy and tough girl Tristan.

She's also in a relationship with someone just as charming as she is. His name is Than, and I'll post photos of him sooner or later.

And because some of my dolls have given themselves job titles, like Doll Advisor (Nora), Doll President (Mellie), and Miniature Art Curator (Allie), Corey has a title. Minister of F---ing Sh-- Up. And she does a very good job of this.

Corey wouldn't want me to tell you this, and she'll probably stomp me with her combat boots if she finds out, but her full name is Coriander Veronica Haines. She's one of my only dolls with a middle and last name, which I owe to her strong personality.

Stay tuned for more re-roots and interesting characters! As I said before, I have lots and lots of photos.

Much love,

Sarah J. Sequins

(And profane doll)

Re-root: Nora

Dolly friends, it's been forever since I've posted!

This isn't to say that I've done nothing doll-related. Actually, just the opposite. I've bought a few new dolls, including one of my very first non-Mattel dolls. I've worked on a few re-roots. And more than anything, I've taken photos. Literally hundreds of them.

Today's photos are from one of my earliest photo shoots, and they're of one of my favorite dolls. This is Alianora, also known as Nora, and she's been in my collection for over twenty years. She's one of the few remaining from my original collection.

Nora is a Western Stampin' Tara Lynn. I was immediately drawn to her because of her bright blue eyes and jet black hair.

However! After years of adventures in the stream by my childhood home, baths, boil perms, boil straightenings, and just about every crazy hairstyle you could imagine, the jet black had faded to slate gray. It looked a little like wool.

Nora got a re-root in a nice, glossy nylon. She also got one more bath to remove the Mod Podge I'd put on her face years and years and years ago... for whatever reason.

Here she is with a change of costume...

And here she is with some jewelry. Like the dress, it was made by yours truly.

And last but not least, here's my favorite photo of her so far. I really like the styling of this one.

When I was younger and she was part of my original collection, her character was a bookworm. I would always place her on a bookshelf or in a corner of the room with a doll-sized book in her lap. Now that she's been around for awhile, I think of her as the advisor to the other dolls.

She had me keep a lock of her old hair as a reminder of all we've been through together. She's thrilled with the re-root, though, and has told me in no uncertain terms that there will be no more swimming in streams for her.

These aren't my best photos, but I thought I'd share them anyway. They were another experiment in lighting, and also in photo staging. And also in photo editing, which I haven't really gotten the hang of just yet, but which I'll continue to play around with.

Stay tuned for more photos! Things have been rough for me lately for a number of reasons, and I've realized that I need to throw myself into something creative again. To focus on one of the best parts of my life, namely my plastic family and the people who appreciate them.

Much love,

Sarah J Sequins

(And dolls)